Friday, April 30, 2010

Is David Letterman on his way to becoming a music-biz mogul? The Late Night host’s Worldwide Pants, Inc. has just started a record label called Clear Entertainment/C.E. Music. Letterman’s first signee, announced this morning via press release, is Huntington Beach, Calif. pop-punk quintet Runner Runner. Runner Runner’s self-titled debut is due late this summer on C.E. Music in partnership with Capitol and MRV. You can hear lead single “So Obvious” right now on their MySpace.

Not so excited about the band, but this is kind of interesting. Does Lou Reed still have a label?

"4,192, an upcoming documentary about baseball's all-time hits leader, Pete Rose, is being scored by indie-rock's all-time non-hits leader. We ask the uber-prolific ex-Guided By Voices mastermind Robert Pollard how the hell this happened and what's up with his other cinematic undertaking."

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

"In an exclusive interview Lou Reed speaks to 6 Music News' Elizabeth Alker about his 1975 album Metal Machine Music. Reed has made the decision to re-master and re-release the album, which he says is dedicated to 'the guitar as the single greatest instrument known to man.'"

I think I'll have a listen over lunch.

UPDATE: It's not available in the U.S. for some reason. Sorry about that.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

I saw Elvis Costello live for the first time last night. His lineup consisted of a violin, a dobro, accordion, mandolin and two guitars (including his). There were no drums, but they were not missed because the mix of instruments created enough percussion to roll things along. He played several covers, most notably "Femme Fatale," "Friend of the Devil" and "The Race Is On," songs from his recent album, and total reworkings of his familiar tunes, including "Alison," "What's So Funny etc." and "(The Angels Want to Wear My) Red Shoes."

He started out with a blazing version of "Mystery Train," during which the musicians traded solos, bluegrass style. I was surprised at his energy from the second he walked on the stage. I shouldn't have been, of course, as he is a professional musician and performer, so he knows how to look excited, even when he isn't. But if he was faking, I couldn't tell. The impression that I got was that this was guy in love with music and will always be happy to get a chance play for people. He also surely was energized by the talent he had on stage with him, and he let them steal the show on a number of occasions.

It got me thinking about how the Advanced (and I've been on the fence about Costello) are often criticized for reworking their hits, exploring new genres, and generally not doing what is expected of them. I think it comes down to their affection for music and the realization that they have the ability to play the songs that made them want to be musicians in the first place. All they have to do is put together some ace country musicians and suddenly George Jones and Merle Haggard tunes become possible. Costello has done just about every kind of music there is, which has probably hurt his career in terms of keeping fans, but I can't imagine he has any regrets. How could you when you get to see Jim Lauderdale and Jerry Douglas playing every night?

The show lasted about an hour and a half and really never lost steam, even as the band did some more atmospheric numbers. I haven't actually heard the album that some of the songs came from, but that didn't matter. Everything was good, covers, new tunes, familiar songs, everything. For me, "Femme Fatale" was the high point, not only because it is tied with Advancement but because it was truly beautiful (and I appreciate the southern accents in the backup singing). I halfway expected to hear a Dylan tune because I think that is the artist Costello most resembles in his career (with the exception that his voice has only grown more powerful) in that he is constantly changing and redefining himself as an artist to the point where there is no such thing, or no one thing, as an Elvis Costello sound.

PopMatters has something up that I think I might love. It's Star Wars: Uncut. Here's what it's all about:

They uploaded the entire movie in 15-second clips, and any aspiring film maker could claim that clip and produce a lo-fi version of that scene. The site will then compile the clips and recreate the movie in it’s entirety. It should be kind of amazing.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

It was dismissed as "career suicide" and a joke, and some fans returned the record thinking it was faulty, but rocker Lou Reed is re-releasing a digitally remastered version of his 1975 album "Metal Machine Music." And, despite the absence of melody and vocals and the unending presence of feedback, the 68-year-old rocker best known for his work with the influential band The Velvet Underground is touring Europe playing music inspired by the record with the Metal Machine Trio. When collaborator Ulrich Krieger approached Reed and proposed the idea of analyzing the sounds of the album and performing them on stage, at first the singer was dubious. I said there's no way. That's absolutely impossible, Reed told Reuters in an interview in London ahead of a performance at the Royal Festival Hall in London and before he moves on to Paris, Brussels, Copenhagen and Oslo (www.loureed.com).

I've posted about this a lot, but I just wanted to use this as an excuse to get back to the blog. The book comes out in about four weeks, so I plan to get back to blogging every day so people new to the Theory (I expect literally tens!) will not be disappointed.